A railway coach that was used for a trial run at Dhanbad station on Wednesday. (Gautam Dey)

Dhanbad, Oct. 6: Itís a train that promises to be bigger, better and capable of carrying more.

A dummy coach of the proposed double-decker train between Dhanbad and Calcutta rolled into platform number two of Dhanbad railway station precisely at 2.12pm today, setting the stage for full-fledged services sometime in the future.

The single coach, which arrived with some railway technicians on board, is four inches higher than a normal coach. The train, which left Calcutta at 9.05am, was received by Dhanbad station manager P.N. Jha.

The dummy train will leave for Calcutta tomorrow at 7.15am and is expected to reach its destination at 10.55am, taking the Asansol- Khanna-Dankuni route.

A senior railway official, who did not want to be named, said the proposed train will be known as the Dhanbad-Calcutta Duranto Express and would be entirely made up of double-decker coaches which would seat 128 passengers instead of the normal 72.

He added that the train would run at a speed of about 140 kilometres per hour and will not stop between Dhanbad and Calcutta. The entire journey each way would take 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Welcoming the development, spokesman of the Federation of Dhanbad Zila Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Surendra Arora, said the new train would be a boon for businessmen. It will help daily passengers who now have to jostle for space in Coalfield Express and Black Diamond Express ó the two trains which ply between Dhanbad and Howrah at present.

However, there were some murmurs of protest over the route of the train and the fact that it would terminate at Kolkata station instead of Howrah or Sealdah.

When contacted, divisional commercial manager of Dhanbad division Samir Kumar confirmed the trial run but refused to elaborate further.